Found Kodachrome Slide

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Kodachrome Slide

date stamped on slide March 1971

Found Kodachrome Slide -- The Ellen and Kathy Collection

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Kodachrome Slide -- The Ellen and Kathy Collection

Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Boffin Claims Microsoft's 'Quantum Leap' Is Invalid Due To 'Basic Python Errors'

A peer-reviewed Nature critique argues that Microsoft's 2025 Majorana quantum-computing breakthrough -- and its claim that it could enable "a truly meaningful quantum computer not in decades, as some have predicted, but in years" -- is fundamentally flawed. According to Dr Henry Legg, a lecturer at the University of St Andrews, the claims were undermined by omitted data, selective plotting, and basic Python errors that concealed alternative results. Microsoft, for its part, says the bugs were minor and stands by its findings and roadmap. The Register reports: "Last year they claimed to be years, not decades from a 'topological quantum supercomputer,'" Legg told The Register in an email. "My feeling is that they are centuries, not decades away. If it works at all -- and, based on what I have seen, the most likely scenario is that it doesn't work." Based on his analysis of the research Microsoft published in 2025, Legg argues that the company's claims about finding and being able to control the elusive Majorana particle to build a topological superconductor do not withstand scrutiny.

"I demonstrate that Microsoft's tune-up software is flawed and that coding errors resulted in incorrect statements to peer reviewers," said Legg. "Raw data, which was omitted from the original paper, also appears to indicate Microsoft's devices contain considerable disorder and are not compatible with the existence of a topological gap. In other words, the prerequisites for Microsoft's claims do not appear to be met, but this was obscured because this data did not appear in the original publication."

Essentially, Microsoft has proposed a Topological Gap Protocol (TGP) that can be used to detect the phase transition deemed to be a prerequisite for conducting quantum calculations using Majorana particles. Legg argues that based on his analysis of underlying transport data (measurements of particle change) -- omitted from the original publication -- Microsoft chose to focus on results that supported its thesis and ignored data that could be interpreted as a negative result. As he notes in his critique: "The TGP plotting code was set to highlight only the largest purportedly topological region."

"The primary consequence was the omission of other regions that passed their tune-up protocol (the TGP)," said Legg. "When peer reviewers asked if other regions existed, Microsoft inaccurately stated that they had investigated the only region passing the protocol within the explored range. This was not correct." Legg also argues that Microsoft mishandled its code. "The code antisymmetrized bias voltage based on array index rather than physical value," his analysis says.

In other words, Microsoft's researchers made a basic programming mistake by evaluating the array index -- the number identifying a value's position in an array -- instead of the value to which the index refers. "There were two pretty basic Python programming errors that hid these alternative regions," Legg explained. "Their plotting software was hardcoded with a filter (zbp_cluster_numbers=[1]) that forced it to display only the single largest region, concealing other successful results from their phase maps. Changing this to zbp_cluster_numbers=[1,2] shows already a second region." Legg added: "The TGP software transformed the data by simply reversing a Python array (x[::-1]) based on its index position, ignoring the actual physical bias voltages."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Trump Admin Announces $17.5 Billion In Loans For 10 New Large Nuclear Reactors

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The Trump administration is providing $17.5 billion to speed the development of 10 new large nuclear reactors to meet the skyrocketing power demand from massive data centers. Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited "tremendous interest" among developers of data centers that would buy the power, as well as utilities and energy companies. The nuclear plants could begin construction by 2030 and become operational in the mid-2030s, Wright and other officials said Tuesday. "This is the start," Wright said on a call with reporters. "We're going to move with the players that are ready to stand up and move quickly. Once that supply chain is up and running, do we think there will be dozens of these built going forward? I'd be very surprised if there were not."

Most U.S. nuclear power plants were built between 1970 and 1990. Only two new large reactors have been built from scratch in the United States in recent decades. Those two reactors, at Georgia Power Co.'s Plant Vogtle, were completed years late and billions of dollars over budget. The 10 new reactors will use the same design, Westinghouse's AP1000. Wright said the Plant Vogtle project struggled because of bad planning, supply chain problems and the COVID-19 pandemic. But, he said, the reactor design is "robust and sound."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Register

Biting the hand that feeds IT — Enterprise Technology News and Analysis

Loop engineering, latest AI buzzword, still needs humans in the loop

Writing prompts is so … 2025! AI influencers and industry luminaries have declared that prompts are out and loops are in, and maddeningly this has become blog fodder and grist for the news cycle. Never mind that AI agents, which are models using tools in a loop, have involved loops since people started yammering about them last year. Never mind that programming has always had constructs for repetition, even before the do-loop appeared in Fortran. The word from the AI-pilled is that if you're writing prompts and checking each response, as opposed to having AI agents address multi-step tasks with minimal input, you're doing it wrong. The recent focus on loops can be attributed in part to Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw who went on to join OpenAI, even though the likes of Andrej Karpathy were writing about and implementing AI loops months earlier. "Here’s your monthly reminder that you shouldn’t be prompting coding agents anymore," Steinberger wrote in a social media post on June 7. "You should be designing loops that prompt your agents." Ed Zitron, the harbinger of AI doom, landed the first body blow with his reply: "Does OpenAI bill itself for its token spend?" That's primarily what this is about – celebrating and evangelizing autonomous token consumption, spending that OpenAI and its peers would very much like to stimulate and capture. Imagine a for-profit but heavily indebted utility advising customers to remember to leave their lights and appliances on all night. That's about where we are. To underscore the spending assumptions baked into loops über alles, Zitron in a recent post skewered Anthropic's Boris Cherny for his advocacy of loops as the successor to prompts: "Pretty convenient for a guy who’s allowed to burn upwards of $130,000 a month in tokens by Anthropic." But back to the X thread: Gautham Pai, founder of corporate learning biz Jnaapti, answered Steinberger, "Oh god, LinkedIn will now start a new fad, 'Loop Engineering'. Harness Engineering is so last year. Loop Engineering is what you should be doing." In response, Steinberger quipped, "Don’t worry it’ll take 3 months until it’s there. We’ll be talking about fleets that design your loops then." A blog post titled "Loop Engineering" appeared that very day, not on LinkedIn, but on the blog of developer Addy Osmani. And unlike the humble-brag, jargon-strewn river of scintillating affirmation that is LinkedIn, Osmani's take is worthwhile if you happen to be actually trying to implement an AI agent loop. His conclusion is particularly worthwhile, though it rather undercuts the whole idea of loops: "The loop changes the work, it does not delete you from it." Another way to put that is, "Automate at your peril." If you set an inherently non-deterministic AI model on a task and expect flawless operation, you deserve to clean up the inevitable mess. The major AI companies would love to see set-and-forget service consumption. Your job is to be the human in the loop. Your livelihood may depend on that. ®

JeJu Island, South Korea

stan.jernigan has added a photo to the pool:

JeJu Island, South Korea

I took this photo of “Jeju City” on my iPhone 17 Pro Max from my veranda as we left Jeju Island, South Korea. I really enjoyed the sites I visited. They were delightful and well worth seeing…

Kabukichō Nights – Framed in Red

T.Marko has added a photo to the pool:

Kabukichō Nights – Framed in Red

Beneath the iconic red arch of Kabukichō Ichibangai, Tokyo unfolds in layers of light, motion, and energy. The gate frames a living scene—crowds drifting through neon-lit streets, each step part of the city’s restless rhythm.
This photograph captures a fleeting moment where structure and chaos coexist, where the bold geometry of the arch contrasts with the organic flow of people below. A gateway not just to a place, but to a mood—vivid, electric, and unmistakably Tokyo.

VK: Voorpagina

Volkskrant.nl biedt het laatste nieuws, opinie en achtergronden

Eerste groepen naderen hun ontknoping, Bosnië & Herzegovina tegen Qatar op 2-1

Eerste groepen naderen hun ontknoping, groep B trapt de knock-outfase af

Artikel 23 schrappen in het Stamcafé

De vrijheid van onderwijs was ooit natuurlijk een goed idee omdat, nee, wacht, het is altijd al een kudtidee geweest. School is er logischerwijs niet om de levensbeschouwelijke of religieuze ideeën van ouders te megafoniseren, maar juist om enig tegenwicht te bieden, omdat die ouders het zomaar eens mis zouden kunnen hebben, en die kinderen dat nog niet kunnen weten. Onderwijs zou een tegengif moeten zijn voor indoctrinatie, dat begrijpt iedereen, althans, iedereen die fatsoenlijk onderwijs heeft genoten, en (mede) omdat wij hier die prachtige vrijheid van onderwijs hebben zijn dat er nou ook weer niet zo gek veel. Natuurlijk staat het ouders vrij om hun kroost buiten lesuren alsnog te vertroebelen met waanideeën, om hun eigen wereldbeeld via weekendscholen de hersens van het nageslacht in te beitelen, want gekte moet doorgegeven worden, o nee, stel je voor, straks is Vlinder, Patrick of Mohammed iets minder getikt dan het tweetal dat haar of hem verwekte. De vrijheid van onderwijs staat gezonde evolutie in de weg; weg ermee. 

Afijn, lang verhaal kort, proost op het handjevol kinderen dat niet alleen uit Almere komt, maar straks ook nog eens de twijfelachtige eer heeft om de heropende Renaissanceschool te mogen bevolken. Arme stakkers.


Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Evacuatie zeevarenden bij Hormuz duurt enkele weken, denkt IMO

LONDEN (ANP) - De evacuatie van ongeveer 11.000 zeevarenden die vastzitten in de Perzische Golf zal "enkele weken" in beslag nemen. Dat is de inschatting van secretaris-generaal Arsenio Dominguez van de Internationale Maritieme Organisatie (IMO), de scheepvaartorganisatie van de Verenigde Naties. Het is de bedoeling dat schepen die vastzaten door de sluiting van de Straat van Hormuz stapsgewijs weg kunnen, nu Iran die zeestraat heeft geopend als onderdeel van een voorlopig vredesakkoord met de Verenigde Staten.

Ongeveer zeshonderd schepen zitten vast in de Perzische Golf. De IMO hoopt dat "ongeveer vijftig schepen per dag" door de zeestraat bij Hormuz kunnen, zei Dominguez in gesprek met persbureau AFP. "Gisteren zijn er een paar schepen doorheen gevaren", aldus de secretaris-generaal. "Het is een stapsgewijs proces."

De IMO wil bij het coördineren van de evacuatie ongelukken of aanvaringen voorkomen, legde Dominguez uit. Daarom kunnen niet alle schepen tegelijk over de smalle overgebleven vaarroutes weg.

Het evacuatieplan leidt de schepen over twee routes langs de Omaanse en Iraanse kust. Daarbij mijden de schepen de gangbare route door de Straat van Hormuz. De IMO heeft volgens Dominguez te horen gekregen dat daar ongeveer tachtig zeemijnen liggen.


Niet de sommelier, maar de sappelier maakt de dranken voor de alcoholvrije ‘pairing’ in het restaurant: ‘Het is ook voor de show’

Steeds meer restaurants zien het als hun opdracht om de dranken voor het non-alcoholische arrangement zelf te vervaardigen en niet uit een fles te schenken. „Ik zet liever iets moois van mezelf op tafel dat beter aansluit bij het gerecht.”


Dees doet Rotterdam: Kunsthal, TENT, SAP

Een absolute aanrader om te gaan zien deze zomer in Rotterdam is de tentoonstelling City at Play in de Kunsthal. Senior curator Shehera Grot maakte een prachtige overzichtstentoonstelling van het fotowerk van de New Yorkse [Meer...]

Rijnmond - Nieuws

Het laatste nieuws van vandaag over Rotterdam, Feyenoord, het verkeer en het weer in de regio Rijnmond

Mega-fan Leon hoopt op zijn 250ste wedstrijd bij het Nederlands elftal: 'Ik sta stijf van de spanning'

Al maandenlang leeft de Barendrechtse oranjesupporter Leon van der Wilk toe naar het WK voetbal. Hij is gerust een superfan te noemen. Hij hoopt tijdens het WK in Noord-Amerika, voor de 250ste keer zijn helden van het Nederlands elftal live in actie te zien.

Sargasso

Hopeloos Genuanceerd

Closing Time | (alweer) Brighter than a thousand suns

Tja, toch even voor de mensen die gister de CT zagen en bij het lezen van de titel dachten een mooi stukje (moderne) Iron Maiden te gaan horen, en die toen teringteleurgesteld waren omdat het een jaren-80 emulatieband bleek, hier toch nog even die andere Brighter than a thousand suns.

kottke.org

Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products

Did a medieval flying monk spot Halley’s comet, twice?...

Did a medieval flying monk spot Halley’s comet, twice? It’s complicated. Halley’s Comet came around in 1066 and it’s likely Eilmer of Malmesbury saw a different comet in 1018, not Halley’s in 989.

The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Trump accused of showing ‘complete indifference’ to Americans’ living costs after cancelling housing bill signing – US politics live

President was due to sign deal aimed at making life more affordable for Americans but shelved event to pressure Congress to pass restrictive voting bill

A man or a movement? That was the question being asked when Zohran Mamdani gambled his political capital on Tuesday’s elections in New York.

The answer from voters was emphatic: they prefer Mamdani and his brand of democratic socialism to the Democratic party establishment and its lukewarm version of capitalism. America’s biggest city has swung even further to the left.

This is a battle between the establishment and this insurgency. And the roof is collapsing on the Democratic party establishment tonight … This is no longer a movement; this is a movement and a machine at the same time.

Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood’s immigration and asylum bill to go before MPs next week

Refugee charities fear controversial changes, including on forced removals and age checks, are being rushed through

Shabana Mahmood’s controversial plans to increase the forced removal of people refused asylum, introduce stringent age checks for people claiming to be children and limit applications under human rights laws are scheduled to be placed before MPs within days.

The immigration and asylum bill is expected to be put before parliament next Tuesday and will face opposition from some Labour, Lib Dem and independent MPs. Andy Burnham’s team, widely expected to be in No 10 within weeks, is understood to be aware of the bill and its contents.

Continue reading...

Players’ protests over prize money share to continue at Wimbledon

  • Revenue share is 14.4%; players want 16%

  • Players to limit time they give to the media

The top men’s and women’s tennis players have decided to continue their protests for a greater percentage of grand slam tournament revenues at Wimbledon.

A month after the top players chose to limit their pre-tournament media duties at the French Open to 15 minutes, the players will extend the protest until the end of the first week of the tournament, also limiting their post-match media duties during the event.

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thexiffy

Last.fm last recent tracks from thexiffy.

Rammstein - Kuss Mich (Fellfrosch)

Rammstein